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“Railroad Lines” Connecting Japanese Anime and Films: From Intertextuality to Interobjectivity

  • Journal of Japanese Culture
  • 2019, (82), pp.335-355
  • DOI : 10.21481/jbunka..82.201908.335
  • Publisher : The Japanese Culture Association Of Korea (Jcak)
  • Research Area : Humanities > Japanese Language and Literature
  • Received : May 31, 2019
  • Accepted : August 5, 2019
  • Published : August 31, 2019

Kawasaki, Mizuho 1

1神戸大学

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Using comparative analysis, this study employs the presence of railroad lines to clarify connections between recent Japanese anime and films. In the animated Fireworks, Spirited Away, as well as the live-action film Destiny: The Tale of Kamakura, fantastic railroad lines play an important role in each story’s development. If we rely on classical folklore, these railroad lines can be interpreted as linking the Konoyo (this life) and Anoyo (or Takai, afterlife). However, these can also be viewed as exemplifying “the line of flight” from traditional power structures (Deleuze & Guattari). Furthermore, since “retro” trains connect the past, present, and future, it can be said that a “world line.”exists, as shown in the anime series Steins; Gate. Finally, this study highlights the concept of “heteronomous transformation” (recently termed as an “ontological turn”) in anthropology as necessary for analyzing railroad lines between anime and films.

Citation status

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